Smitten

[mondhasen]

Our library's oldest non-circulating book is a Bible produced in 1674. It has lain in a cupboard, unopened, for years, and was only recently pulled out to make room for some other ephemera. I think I was the last person to have looked through the book, and that was ten or more years ago :o)


Click on pics for larger versions.



The worked leather cover is indicative of the book's age. The wormholes travel throughout the pages.
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A beautiful, two color title page.
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And for the subject line of my entry, I don't know what all the smiting is about but the Lamb is well pleased!

This was someone's family Bible, and there are notes on the backs of the covers starting around 1680. It's in decent shape for its age, but as it's irreplaceable I wish it were stored more safely.

Comments

[whitetail.livejournal.com]

That is amazing. What a treasure! About how large is it?

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

It's about 13"x9" and several inches thick. There is so much history there that I don't know: who owned it, where it traveled, and how after over 300 years it ended up being held, opened, and read by me?

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Ah, neat, a German bible? I can actually read that title page:

Biblia,
Das ist:
Die ganze
Schrift
Altes und Neues Testaments /
Deutsch /
Herrn Doct. Martin Luthers S.
Mit den Summarien Herrn Johann Sauberti S
[un]d beygefügtem vielfältigem / lehrreichem Nutzen aller und jeder Kapi-
teln / von Herrn D. Salomon Blassen / U. gezeiget ; Anjetzo aber / mit ganz neuen
Kupfferstücken / und schönen Figuren / wie auch unterschiedli=
chen Registern / gezieret ;
Sambt einer Vorrede /
Herrn
Johann Michael Dilherrns.
Mit Khur=Fürstlichem Sächsischem Privilegio.
Nürnberg /
In Verlegung Christoph Endters / Buchhändlers.

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Thank you- that's much easier to try to understand even if I don't read German. Is that script Fraktur?

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Yup, it is! A Fraktur, to be precise, since the term encompasses a variety of font faces that are all characterized by their "broken" (fractured, as it were) letters.

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Nice! Thank you :o)

Also, using your clarified text I found that the printer's mark is Endters, and I also discovered some of his work being sold on eBay that included an explanation of the happy Lamb pic:

The dragon and skeleton allegory shows Christ triumphant over both Satan and Death.

[spottyfawn.livejournal.com]

absolutely lovely

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Isn't it? What a treasure to own, and to be able to read. Literacy rates were on the rise and it is estimated that Germany was about the third highest (per a literacy website quoting a study by Buringh and Van Zanden) at ~38%.

[dogteam.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's beautiful. You know how much I love old books. I have one that's older, a religious text by George Hutcheson, 1654...but it's text only, not a work of art like that bible.
Couple of books on the way to you. Nothing quite that old. ;)

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

I remember your love of antiquities: artifacts and books. I have nothing older than the 1860's (a book of poems my father's grandmother had as a child). The poems aren't illustrated, but my great grandmother did put her name inside the cover.

I look forward to your gift!